About

About Canberra

Canberra, the capital of Australia, is a planned city, with wide skies, clean air, and quiet country living within a thriving community.

In 1912 Walter Burley Griffin, a young architect from Chicago, won the competition to design a new national capital for Australia. Griffin and his wife Marion Mahony, worked for the great Frank Lloyd Wright, who created the Prairie school of simple and elegant design.

Griffin and Marion shared an idealistic view of democracy and saw the potential in architecture to improve the quality of life of people. Walter Burley Griffin had an interest in Australia as a new and peaceful democracy, and welcomed the chance to enter the competition to design a new capital. His ideas and vision were matched by Marion’s design skills and drive to complete the project.

They were influenced by two significant 19th and 20th century movements; the City Beautiful Movement, and the Garden City Movement.

These two movements promoted the idea that a city could be designed and built into natural landscapes, with buildings and suburbs surrounded by corridors of greenery and communal recreation areas.

The people of Canberra today are the beneficiaries of this enlightened design.

About me:

My name is Gerrie Mackey.

I am a writer, retired teacher, wife and mother. I love the peace and tranquility of all green spaces and especially our own garden. I am never more at home than when I am in the garden..I subscribe very much to the quote….

“anyone who has got a book collection and a garden wants for nothing….”